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Chapter 7- Down the rabbit hole

We slowly moved through the streets of the Smelting District, the heat sweltering. Men and women with chains around their ankles where shoveling coal in furnaces or mining at the rocks at the center mine or at the edge of the crater. Melinda was walking along like nothing was wrong, but I knew it troubled her in some way. I decided not to ask, for my health, because I'm sure I would be hit. The group reached the edge of the crater, and started shambling up the side. Some made it in the first try, others slipped. When it came our turn, Melinda practially jumped up over the side, John had some trouble, and Kimberly made it up easily too. I ran and jumped, but my hand slipped and I was about to fall, but Melinda caught my hand and pulled.me up. "Be more careful pipsqueak." She growled at me. We continued down a dusty road, away from the heat of the Smelting District. After about a mile of walking we came upon a warehouse that was impressively large. The Black Leader walked up to the door and pressed her hand on it. The door proceeded to shatter at the lock, and she swung it open. "Come on, let's go." She said to her current commander. "So, umm, do we go too?" I asked Melinda. "I don't know? Did she call you over?" Melinda said, with obvious sarcasm in her voice. "So that's a no then." I said. "Ya think?" Melinda said, somewhat exasperated. After a few minutes of waiting the large rolling door on the warehouse began to open, and two giant trucks rolled out. Melinda whistled, "I love these things, don't know what there called really, but I call 'em Destroyers." Melinda seemed excited to get in one, though I wasn't so sure. "There are, like, 40 rail guns on this thing. If your lucky and get in quick, you might be able to get one, so come on!" She started sprinting towards the "Destroyer", and John and Kimberly followed. I took one last look at the hulking mass of metal, and joined them.

The interior was all gun-metal grey, quite dark except for the soft glow of the path lights. Melinda clambered up to a section with four seats, all seem to be the gun spots. "Yes, yes, YES! Everyone gets a gun!" She seemed very passionate about the guns, which, I mean is respectable but damn. She got into one of the seats and pulled down a head set and controllers. It looked like one of those virtual reality sets the richer kids usually buy. I once found one and repaired it, but I didn't find it interesting. Probably because there wasn't any games or anything on the one I found, it must have mostly been used for net browsing. Kimberly sat next to Melinda, and John next to me. I pulled down the head set and put it on, then I saw the outside. Looks like we were just starting to move, down the dusty road towards Lexicon. I moved my head, and the position rotated. I dare not push the button yet, for fear of firing and getting kicked off by the others. We traveled down the road for about 2 hours, just chatting with each other, helmets on, just in case. I had asked how they came into the House of War. Melinda and John were in it from the start, and had known the Black Leader somewhat well. Kimberly was recruited after killing 3 Enforcers and was on the run. We came up on the outermost Housing District. I looked out upon the houses, not a soul on the streets. The entire area seemed dead. We quickly passed through this area, and still nothing stirred. "What was going on there?" I asked everyone, hoping someone would answer. "Better if you not know." Melinda replied gravely. "Anyway, we are getting close, ready yourself." And I had nothing to do but wait.